A year after the position got lost in the shuffle of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s transition to power, Portland has a new tribal liaison. Wheeler’s office has announced the hiring of Laura John, who’s been tapped to act as the city’s central liaison to nearby tribal governments and to assist Portlanders of Native American descent. She’ll […]
Dirk VanderHart
I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters elsewhere.
I've been in Portland three years, love it and want to help make it better. Let's keep it amicable!
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Monument Destruction, the Travel Ban Lives (Again), and Other Tidings of Doom
Bluff and mountain ridge-lines are silhouetted at sunset in the Bears Ears National Monument on May 11, 2017 outside Blanding, Utah. Photo by George Frey/Getty Images Good morning, Blogtown. What’s worse today than it was yesterday? Plenty! So much. Donald Trump’s going to war on national monuments. He announced yesterday he’s going to vastly shrink […]
Posted inHousing
Activists Are Planning a Sit-In to Protest New No-Sit Sidewalks
City of Portland Portland law now says no one can sit on the sidewalk outside of Columbia Sportswear’s flagship store on Southwest Broadway from 7 am to 9 pm daily. So of course Portland’s Resistance is holding a sit-in. The local activist group announced last night it’s organizing an action Saturday in protest of the […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Michael Flynn Is Guilty, a Tax Abomination Nears, and Portland Gets Sued for “Chemical Warfare”
“Guilty” MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES There goes Michael Flynn. In what has long seemed likely, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser is expected to plead guilty today to charges he lied to the FBI about conversations with a Russian ambassador. Here’s a rundown from Vice about the falsehoods the FBI says he told. It’s […]
Posted inNews
Dan Saltzman Is Pushing Support for Tolling in Portland—But His Demands Have Slackened Since August
What once looked like it might be a bold statement from Commissioner Dan Saltzman on tolling Portland interstates has softened to a whisper. With activists, economists, and a variety of environmental and transportation groups forming up against a $450 million plan to widen Interstate 5 in the Rose Quarter, Saltzman’s office suggested in August he’d […]
Posted inHousing
The City Just Approved Its Largest Affordable Housing Project in 50 Years
But Not Without Concerns About High Costs and Homelessness
But not without concerns about high costs and homelessness.
Posted inHousing
Affordable Housing Could Be Decimated Under the Republican Tax Plan
And Congressman Greg Walden Is Stonewalling Concerned Providers in His District
And Congressman Greg Walden is stonewalling concerned providers in his district.
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor: Run the Block
High-Profile Complaints Have the PBA Winning More No-Sit Sidewalks
High-profile complaints have the PBA winning more no-sit sidewalks.
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: WaPo Shames Villains, Loretta Smith Faces Complaints, and the Rich Get Richer
You’ve already read it. READ IT AGAIN. The Washington Post‘s tale of how it busted a woman posing as a Roy Moore victim in a scheme to discredit the paper is one of those soaring moments of comeuppance that have been seriously lacking in villain-laden 2017. (No shame in popping a bag of morning corn […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Downtown Homeless Patrols, Devastating Mosque Attack, and Depressing Car Sex
Mercury staff It’s Black Friday and you’ve got fellow shoppers to punch, so let’s be brief. First, be sure to read about how the Multnomah County jail is trying to treat mentally ill inmates better—and how it still has big issues to address. At first you’re intrigued, but with each subsequent detail, this story of […]
Posted inNews
Chloe Eudaly’s Facebook Use Has City Officials Re-Examining Public Records Law
Jason Desomer Ever since screenshots began circulating earlier of Commissioner Chloe Eudaly disparaging an Oregonian reporter (and others) on her private Facebook account, a question has emerged that doesn’t appear to have an easy answer: Whether or not that private account should be a matter of public record—at least the parts where Eudaly is referring […]
Posted inNews
Bullseye Glass Fined More Than $15,000 For Contaminating Groundwater
Dominic Deventua Bullseye Glass was fined $15,600 as part of a settlement over its allowing toxic materials to seep into neighboring groundwater, the state’s Department of Environmental Quality announced today. According to a release from the agency, officials confirmed that chemicals that found their way from the company’s furnaces to its roof eventually made their […]